1. Technical Field
The present invention relates in general to a system and method for using a portable running operating system on multiple computer systems. In particular, the present invention relates to a system and a method for loading, executing, and adapting a running image of an operating system from a removable module to multiple computer systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many computer users own multiple computer systems and/or other computing devices. A user may own, for example, a desktop computer at home, a desktop computer at work, and a portable laptop computer. In addition, a user may own pocket-sized computing devices such as a personal data assistant and a mobile phone.
For each computer system and device a user owns, the user must purchase a separate operating system license. For example, a user must purchase a Windows operating system license for a desktop personal computer and a Palm operating system license for a personal data assistant. Often, the license to the operating system is included in the price of the system. The user must purchase a separate operating system license even for computer systems that can use the same operating system. For example, a user must separately license a Windows operating system for both a desktop and a laptop personal computer even if these are not used at the same time.
In addition to the cost associated with owning multiple operating systems, a user must separately maintain and update each one of the operating systems. For example, if an update for a Windows operating system is available and a user is running Windows on both a desktop and a laptop personal computer, the user must separately execute the Windows update utility from both the laptop and the desktop. If a user wishes to install a particular Windows desktop theme, the user must install the Desktop theme on both the desktop and the laptop. If a user wishes to install and use a certain printer, the user must install the printer driver on both the desktop and the laptop. If a user wishes to store a list of favorite websites, the user must do so on both the desktop and the laptop.
What is needed, therefore, is a system and method that could provide a user with a way of purchasing a single license and running a single operating system on multiple computer systems. The system and method should provide the user with the ability only to update and maintain a single operating system and then provide the user with the ability to run the single operating system on one of multiple computer systems.